Thursday, September 24, 2009

The below message is circulating around the UC mailing lists, and it explains why UC staff and students are walking out today (except me, because I can't fail out of graduate school just yet):

***

On Thursday, September 24, an unprecedented coalition of UC faculty,
undergraduates, grad students, postdocs, lecturers, and staff will
engage in a system-wide walkout. As UC Davis graduate students and
lecturers concerned with the quality of all UC students' education, we
write to clarify the reasons for this walkout as we understand them.

This summer, UC administration began implementing tuition hikes,
enrollment cuts, layoffs, furloughs, and increased class sizes that
jeopardize our education, endanger the livelihood of the most
vulnerable employees, and compromise the fundamental mission of the
University. This is not simply another budget cut; although the UC
Regents repeatedly state their commitment to "quality, access, and
affordability," their recent actions undermine all three principles.
These decisions affect all sectors of our campuses and communities, and
threaten the fundamental character of the university.

On Thursday, we walk out to support our faculty, who are concerned
about the undermining of shared governance. Their traditional
involvement in decision-making processes was subverted this summer when
President Yudof assumed emergency powers, ignored the recommendations
of the Academic Council, and created the Gould Commission on the future
of the UC, originally with no faculty from any UC College of Letters
and Science present.

We walk out because faculty furloughs threaten to lower the quality of
UC education. Whether taken on instructional days or not, furloughs
suggest faculty should spend less time either on research or
instruction, both of which are key components of UC's prestige.
(Nonetheless, the faculty walkout statement requests an end to
furloughs only for salaries below $40,000.)

We walk out to support our university staff members. The UC Office of
the President demanded unlimited rights to furloughs and layoffs from
University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), who are
striking on 9/24 in response to unfair labor practices. They will be
joined by the Coalition of University Employees (CUE). Our education
depends on the vital role of UC staff, who make possible the day-to-day
functioning of this university.

We walk out to support our undergraduates and their families, who now
find themselves carrying a majority of the burden of funding this
university. President Yudof’s proposal to raise student fees will bring
tuition to over $10,000, forcing undergraduates to take larger loans,
work full-time jobs, or drop out. While student fees continue to rise,
course offerings are cut, extending the time needed to graduate.
Lecturers and postdocs represented by the American Federation of
Teachers Unit 18 have been laid off after UCOP refused to consider
furloughs or answer questions, canceling required courses just weeks
before classes begin. UC prides itself on making the world's best
research faculty available to California's best students, regardless of
income. Recent administrative actions threaten to strip students of
that promise.

The crisis facing UC, while certainly related to the state budget , is
primarily about California's priorities for funding education. After
the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, California's K-12 public schools
dropped from 4th to 45th in the nation. Current budget decisions by UC
administration place our university system on that same path. There are
alternatives to fees and furloughs, including pay cuts -- rather than
pay raises -- for the highest-paid UC executives, and the tapping of
surplus funds from medical and extension units.

The UC Regents' actions accelerate a long-standing process of
privatization and have led us, today, to a crisis we cannot and will
not stand for. On September 24, we will not conduct official university
business. Instead, we will gather at our university for education of a
broader sort. We walk out to educate students and all Californians
about what the University of California has been, what it promises to
be, and what it might be in the future. We walk out to force the
administration to seek alternatives to fee hikes and furloughs, and to
demand that legislators prioritize state funding for education. We walk
out to demonstrate that this university belongs to its students, its
community, and its workers. We walk out on 9/24 so that come 2010, we
still have a public university in California: a university solidly
committed to quality, access, and affordability.